Freedom Protests in London: Two protests on Saturday twenty third January, 2010 have been in opposition to the rising powers which have been given to police and misused by them to manage and harass lawful actions on the road.
I’m A Photographer Not A Terrorist – Tragalgar Sq.
Round 1,500 photographers and supporters turned as much as the I’m A Photographer Not A Terrorist rally in Trafalgar Sq. to protest on the rising harassment of individuals taking images by police, and specifically their abuse of powers underneath the Terrorism Act.
I believe these there included just about each photographer who works in London in addition to many amateurs. Virtually all of us who work on the streets have been approached by police, questioned after which subjected to a search, normally underneath Part 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 (S44.)
As I commented in 2010:
These cease and searches seem to have continued unabated regardless of a Dwelling Workplace Round in September that made it clear they shouldn’t be used to focus on photographers. Searches may also be carried out underneath Part 43 of the act, however for this officers will need to have affordable grounds to suspect somebody of being a terrorist. S44 stops can solely be carried out in “authorised areas”, which though supposed by Parliament to use in very restricted areas for brief lengths of time have been utilized by police – for instance – to completely to cowl central London and another areas.
The Press Card that we feature has the textual content “The Affiliation of Chief Police Officers of England Wales and Northern Eire and the Affiliation of Chief Police Officers in Scotland recognise the holder of this card as a bona-fide newsgatherer.” However regardless of this, one among my colleagues was the topic of roughly 30 searches in 2009.
Personally though I’ve been approached and requested why why I’m taking photos on quite a lot of events I’ve solely been been subjected to a S44 cease as soon as. Being a nonetheless photographer I are inclined to work quick and carry on the transfer and I believe videographers who keep round longer have suffered extra. However definitely there was a scarcity of cooperation from the police and I used to be typically discovering my Press Card being unrecognised by offiers. Others informed me that they didn’t regard these issued via the NUJ, one of many recognised gatekeepers to the system, as being legitimate. And most months if not most weeks I’d be threatened with arrest when taking photos.
Maybe probably the most distressing side of this protest was listening to a BBC Information reporter, standing in the course of a crowd of skilled journalists and giving a report during which he gave the quantity attending the protest as “300“. It drew fast shouts of protest from these of us standing round him and was definitely “not commercial for the competence or impartiality of the BBC who seem to have a coverage of taking part in down dissent.” It’s a coverage which nonetheless appears to control the BBC reporting of protests within the UK that are both merely ignored or very a lot performed down.
Among the many protesters was a small “Vigilance Committee with a person on stilts carrying quite a lot of CCTV cameras accompanied by a female and male vigilance officer, who picked on people and questioned them, taking their fingerprints earlier than discovering them responsible and sentencing them to a selection of six years arduous labour or contributing to the Vigilance Committee.”
Additionally current have been three Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, however police and ‘heritage wardens’ largely saved away. Though this had been deliberate as an unlawful protest happening with out the permission from the Mayor required by the bylaws, the authority had put in an software for it with none reference to the protesters.
Extra photos at I’m a Photographer Not a Terrorist.
Life Is Too Quick to be Managed – St Pancras to Piccadilly Circus,
Later within the day protesters met at St Pancras for the ‘Life Is Too Quick to be Managed’ protest in opposition to the rising management over our lives via elevated police powers to cease and search, elevated surveillance and controls on freedom of motion.
The protest, organised by ‘London NoBorders’ started outdoors St Pancras Station the place the Border Authority detains migrants arriving by Eurostar and marched to Piccadilly Circus, beneath which Westminster’s CCTV HQ retains a relentless watch on the streets of London, the “Metropolis of CCTV”. Throughout the town there have been then over 500,000 CCTV cameras watching us, put in by councils, public our bodies, corporations and people and on a typical day the common particular person in London shall be recorded by 300 of them.
Police saved a comparatively discrete watch on the occasion, with police vans parked out of website and even when the group marched alongside the busy Euston Street, holding up site visitors for a couple of minutes not a single officer appeared. The march was well-ordered “and when an ambulance answering an emergency got here alongside, the entire march cleared the street for it with exceptional pace. At Russell Sq., one taxi driver determined to attempt to drive his manner via the marchers, however was quickly stopped, with a number of folks sitting on the bonnet of his car.”
At Piccadilly Circus there was a brief token street block earlier than the protesters moved to the pavement round Eros for extra speeches and a few dancing. A Police Group Assist Officer appeared briefly after somebody climbed up and taped a Palestinian flag to Eros’s bow and tried to establish who had carried out this. The statue is somewhat fragile and will have been broken. He quickly gave up and went away and was changed a couple of minutes later by a single police officer who was embarrassed by being greeted with hugs, and moved again a couple of yards to observe.
The police had monitored the progress of the protest because it marched via London, each from a long way on the streets and likewise on CCTV. It had been peaceable and had brought on solely very minor disturbance. Few protests do, and the sort of heavy policing typically employed typically means police trigger extra disruption that the protest, in addition to typically scary a response from protesters who would in any other case have protested peacefully.
Extra at Life Is Too Quick to be Managed.
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Tags: abuse of powers, authorised areas, BBC, BBC reporting, CCTV, Metropolis of CCTV, Eros, Eurostar, freedom, freedom of motion, heritage wardens, I am A Photographer Not A Terrorist, elevated surveillance, Life Is Too Quick to be Managed, London, London NoBorders, march, NoBorders, Palestinian flag, peter Marshall, Piccadilly Circus, taking part in down dissent, police, press card, S44, searches. S44 searches, Part 43, Part 44, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, St Pancras, Terrorism Act, terrorist, Vigilance Committee, Westminster’s CCTV HQ
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